The Greek that is translated in English as “rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands” or similar is translated in Aja as “The gift that God gave you freely when I laid my hands upon you – make sure its flame grows even higher.”

Joshua Ham explains: “We worked really hard to make sure that the translation will be powerful and attractive and idiomatic. Just one example of that: in the draft version of 2 Timothy 1:6, Paul tells Timothy, ‘Hold on to the spiritual gift that God gave you when I laid my hands upon you.’ That’s not wrong per se, but it’s a bit flat. After a few minutes of looking for a better rendering, the team ended up with, ‘The gift that God gave you freely when I laid my hands upon you — make sure its flame grows even higher.’ Not only is that closer to the original Greek text, it’s also a lot more gripping and evocative. In the Bible, God gives us a message of life-transforming power; there’s no reason that something that dynamic should sound dull!”